Redemption
by The Eccentric Poet
Summary: Modern day ExC Can Christine become the Angel that pulls Erik's soul from the dark condemnation of his own mind, or will the demons of hate and anger within him pull her into his eternal blackness? Rating may change based on any future violence.
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: I do not own Phantom of the Opera or UCF, and characters in the story are meant to resemble those of Andrew Lloyd Webber and Gaston Leroux but are otherwise my own. The plot is mine. I accept constructive criticism, and if there are any mechanical or spelling errors, I'll be happy to be informed of them as well!**

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_This bus could not be more packed,_ a girl thought glumly from her cramped position between a window and rather large and boisterous seat-mate. She pushed sweaty brown curls from her face and prayed that the bus would be stopping sometime soon.

_Please, God, I don't know if my frazzled nerves can take much more…_

She let out a sigh of relief and closed her eyes briefly as the lumbering vehicle pulled up at the entrance to the main campus of UCF in Orlando. Shuffling out into the aisle with her purse clutched close, the young woman stepped off the bus to face the front building, winking at her in a mixture of bright concrete and hot Florida sun.

Just 17 and she was off to college, thanks to a late birthday and advancement from 7th to 9th grade. But she didn't care, it was as good an experience as any when you—

"Hey, Christine!" That thought fled as Christine had the mind knocked out of her by a speeding ball of blue.

"Look at you, Meg! Blue suits you well you know."

The other girl stood back to take a good look at her friend. "As does that lovely lavender on you, dear." She giggled, then pulled the other girl into another crushing hug. "I missed you!"

"Meg… I'm …getting crushed…"

"Oops, sorry."

"Besides, it's only been, what, two months?"

The blonde raised an eyebrow at her pal as they began strolling to a bench by the grass. "Easy for you to say, after coming back from missions in Europe! And Scotland at that!"

Christine smirked at the dreamy look on Meg's face. "Yes, but I'm sure you didn't spend the entire time lounging around with nothing to do." Meg smiled shyly and Christine's grin widened. "It's Jeremy, isn't it?"

Meg nodded, a faint blush at her cheeks.

Christine squealed. "Oh, I _knew_ it! Are you two officially a couple now?"

Meg clasped her friend's hands in her own and stood up, a devilish grin on her face. "Come on, I have the key to out dorms, and your parents stopped your stuff by last week. Let's unpack and I'll tell you everything."

As the girls giggled and briskly strode together, they did not notice two amber-gold eyes peering at them from the shadows of a nearby building. They were alert to everything surrounding the area, but their main focus was one of the girls— Christine Daaé.

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"So… tell me!" Christine leaned over on the bed to face Meg, sincere happiness for her friend in her sparkling blue eyes.

"Well… you know Jeremy, he's kinda shy— but really nice! And he asked me to go get some coffee at Starbucks with him when we were just friends, and when were there he just… asked. If I'd be a little more than a friend." Once again, Christine squealed.

"Go on!"

"Of course I said yes. Jeremy's a wonderful guy and I_ feel_ something between us. And then we laid down some ground rules, so we both knew where to stand." The brunette nodded.

"That's right, Jeremy's a Christian, too, right?"

"Yeah." …Another dreamy look, and then, "— He agreed that we should group date and that kinda thing, and I'm so glad he does!"

"… Because I will personally make sure you don't date guys who aren't Christians, Meg, and you know it!" Both girls laughed. "Don't get tied into a relationship where you have different moral values— it's too hard to meet halfway on that sort of thing."

"Besides, Christine, why don't _you_ have a guy to bring you chocolate on the weekends?" Christine smiled and shrugged. "The guys we know are great and all, but… they're my friends, not more. I'll wait until the time is right, I think."

They dissolved into the local talk and family news as the dorm began shaping up to look a little closer to home.

A shadow lurking outside of the door pulled its ear away, satisfied with the information to be had from listening on the conversation. _She has no ties to other… boys. Perhaps I can be the Angel she's looking for? Miss Christine Daaé won't see the demon until it's too late. And by then, no angel will be able to save her._

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Yes, I know I have "Why" going on, but it isn't going anywhere! So I'm trying this!

**Erik-** Yeah! Go Eccentric Poet::snarks at _dark_!Erik forshadowing in the chapter:  
**Me-** :groan: Nooooo!  
**Erik-** :smirk-ness: Bwahahahaha...  
**Me-**I thought I got rid of CommentErik on the other story::ponders: Oh well::glomp:  
**Erik-**:gasp: I... can't... breathe...  
**Me-** Review, or Erik shall forever be locked on the Glomp of Doom!


	2. AN

**A quick update to respond to my reviewers… Every. Single. One.**

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First, let's start off with a little matter of business. One, I will not be updating this story, for two main reasons.

_One_, I never seem to be able to finish anything. If you see my profile you notice I have two stories listed- neither have gotten past the first chapter. If you could see my story file on my computer, you'd find about 15 or 16 similar cases of writer's block coming right after the first installment in a variety of genres- more fanfic, some original stuff, etc. Actually, I'd rather forgotten I'd put this on here, until I checked my little-used email and found more reviews. It was like… "Ooh, reviews, what the heck? Oops, forgot the discontinue AN. Better do it now!"

_Two_. I've taken a small concept from both this story and my other one and have combined them with a different plotline for a different fanfic that I'm working on, and have gotten further on than any of the others I've written. I'm rather pleased with the result, and as soon as it is done, or has some semblance of completeness, I will begin posting the chapters. I don't want to start this before I finish because I'm afraid I won't finish, or something major will get in the way and I won't be able to write for awhile, etc. It's really just a thing of mine- it irks me to start something and not finish it.

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Now… On for review responses!

**WildPixieChild-** Thanks! I'm glad you enjoyed reading, but unfortunately… well, looks like I _won't_ be updating soon. Sorry!

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**Voldivoice**- Thanks for the review, and glad you like my writing style. As for longer chapters…:shrug: I'm working on it. A special feature for the next story I mentioned earlier.

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**Countess Alana**- Thanks, and I'm glad you found it interesting- I thought it was a rather bland beginning for what I had planned out later. Again, as for updating soon…:_guilty grin_:

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**Twinkle22-** I'm glad you liked it, thanks! As for continuation, well, it's been addressed. Sorry, but thanks for expressing interest.

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**Laverte-** So sorry my story didn't meet your liking- no wait, I'm not! I write for _me_, not for you. If you happen to like what you see, by all means you should read. But don't think I'm going to stop writing what I want to write just for you. As for actually responding: one of the key elements to PotO, I believe, is Christine's naivety and spiritual innocence- they are what bring her under the Phantom's influence in the first place. As for where it's taking place, I chose that because I had plans that could effectively utilize "Florida" and the "State University" well. Do you just have a problem with Florida itself, or were you mugged on one of the state campuses? As for Christianity, I'm not ashamed to put it in my fic and I will not back down from that. If others can put up stories where demons and magic and the fires of hell are included, then for Pete's sake so can I add my own element. Yeah, so I angered you. Get over it! Maybe it's just me, but I'm pretty sure than before you die a lot of other people are going to anger you as well. Again, I write for me, and by all means don't think I'm stopping this fic for you. You needn't flatter yourself. I haven't updated in a long time and simply took this opportunity to let others know it was discontinued, and to make sure you realize that the world does not revolve around you.

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**Phanatical-** Comment!Erik is currently unavailable. Pity! I would like to see a creature of bytes and cyberspace try to "punjab" me. As for the Christian feel- who's being discriminator now? You know why there's such a problem with religious bickering? It's because almost everybody, minus the Christians, _hates_ the Christians! Oh yeah, we're a terrible, close-minded lot that think we're better than anyone else- what about the rest of the world? We can't put Christian symbols in public places because- Heaven forbid!- it might offend a non-Christian. But what about the pagan symbols, the Muslim symbols, the insert-religion-or-non-religion-of-your-choice-here symbols that we just HAVE to allow, because if we didn't, we're being prejudiced and bigoted. What if they offend us? Well no matter, we're just _Christians_, so it's right that we get treated like dirt. Everybody knows that you have to give everyone their rights to free speech and all that rot, unless it's a Christian, and then you have to make sure you suppress them as much as possible. You may not want to hear that, but think about it- it's true, wherever you go. And as for me putting Christianity in the story- I like that twist on PotO. I have YET to read a fic that explores it, so I thought I'd make my own. And if YOU don't like it, or anybody ELSE doesn't like it, they can go read something else. There are plenty of depressing and agnostic fics to go around (not that all, or even most of them are bad), and if that floats your boat, go sailing! I write for myself, not for you.

I am not disrespecting Muslims here, so don't DARE even try to bring something like that up. I'm just using it as an example, as I could use Hinduism, Zoroastrianism, or any number of other religions/theologies/philosophies.

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And a reminder- I'm not stopping my fic because it met outside resistance; I'm stopping it because I've lost hope of finishing it. Please, Laverte and Phanatical, don't give yourselves the compliment of thinking I stopped because of you, because that is not the case.

I never asked for flames, either. I said that if you wanted to point out grammatical errors, or to give constructive criticism, I'd welcome it, but I have no respect for people who can't get over themselves and have to resort to flaming to up their pitiful egos. I'm not going to change the very essence of my story for such people.


End file.
